Hon’ble State Minister Begum Tarana Halim said ‘Our government believes in empowering the citizens through democratic governance. Opening public data advances the government's accountability and democratic reform. Increased access to government data and information provides the public with greater insight into government activities and service delivery which in turn leads to citizens’ empowerment.’

Secretary of Statistics and Informatics Division (SID), Ms, Kaniz Fatema, ndc, stressed the importance of open data and information transparency for governments in general, especially, local.

Nick Beresford, Deputy Country Director of UNDP, said he is pleased to see the progress the government has already made in this area. I have come to know that a Open Government Data Strategy has already been developed to structurally guide this OGD initiative forward from the government’s end and a Open Government Data Portal (www.data.gov.bd) is under development.

An open floor discussion was moderated by Additional Secretary of SID M. Shafiqul Islam.

The National Substantive Training (NST) on Open Government Data (OGD) is being organized under the project of “Strengthening of Capacities of Developing Countries to Provide Access to Information for Sustainable Development through Open Government Data”, implemented by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in partnership with the Access to Information Programme (a2i) of the Prime Minister’s office of the Government of Bangladesh.

It will assist with the development of an open data strategy, establishment of an open data community, enhancement of the technological knowledge and skills of required stakeholders, and monitoring and evaluating the open data initiative.

Background to the NST on OGD Summary:

UNDESA with partnership with a2i, PMO has started efforts toward OGD initiative in BD since March 2015. A 3-day Capacity Development Workshop (CDW) was organized during August 23-25, 2015 toward OGD sensitization, gap assessment & strategic planning.

A meeting on OGD was held at PMO chaired by the Principal Secretary (PMO) on November 11, 2015 and decisions were made to move forward with implementing OGD initiatives in Bangladesh.

OGD Management System of Bangladesh has been formed: Executive Committee - Act as the controlling authority for the strategic aspects toward OGD initiative in Bangladesh. Working Group - Act as a central point of reference for people who are interested in Open Government Data.

An OGD BD Strategy Review & Formulation Committee reviewed OGD draft Strategy Paper developed by a2i, assessed & formulated necessary edits and made a presentation of the final version on March 16, 2016.

A final version of OGD Strategy Paper is getting approved on May 10, 2016.

The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has started the process to develop an open government data portal framework to provide an easy way to find, access and reuse data from the GOB and its agencies. The URL of this portal is “data.gov.bd”.